At Little Forest Folk Winkworth we love the mud and rain … especially the big puddles that come with it! After some splashing we might get a little soggy, but as the children like to remind us “It’s only water!” Our little adventurers have loved seeing how the Arboretum is changing with spring on the way. This week, we have been focused on understanding the world and exploring the natural materials we find around us.
First it was important to make a start on our vegetable garden. Our Little Forest Folk-ers collected some lovely soil that had been freshly turned up by some helpful moles. Then, together we put out our pots, filled them up with soil and carefully counted in 2 seeds each before covering them over.
Our mud kitchen was also transformed into a Dinosaur Excavation site and research area! The adventurers selected tools like spades, trowels and rakes to move and transport dirt in the dino dig to reveal bones in the soil. Then the little palaeontologists changed to natural brushes made from fir branches to carefully remove the dirt from the bones and fossils they found. They put key vocab into context as we discussed how old the bones were as they looked “ancient” and to move them carefully as they were very “brittle”.
In the research station, the children used magnifying glasses to study the bones and fossils before snapping photos to record their findings with their digital cameras, and in the mark making area fossils and shells provided a provocation for the little ones to practice their early writing skills as they carefully drew out ammonite spirals. By the afternoon our Little Forest Folk-ers had opened a dinosaur museum and were busily serving coffee in the museum cafe.
Finally, Karlenne and Charlotte were out and about on Saturday in the Winkworth Aboretum with some magical forest activities. Lots of families came along to say hello and even some of our current children couldn’t resist a Saturday play! The mud kitchen was especially popular and the little ones also had a fab time designing tree cookies and making magic forest wands. We can’t wait to get back out for another pop up on the 9th March. See you all there!
Little Forest Folk
Winkworth